Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

"This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

There's a nice and meaty Torment: Tides of NumeneraKickstarter update today, the first since the campaign ended. It covers a whole bunch of topics, but the main part is a comprehensive overview of what the team will be up to in the next few months. I quote:

So what are we doing on Torment right now? Our emphasis for the next while is on planning the project and building a strong foundation for the writers before they begin their work. I'll talk more about the project planning in a future update - for now, I'll explain what types of design work we're focused on.​

Colin, with support from Adam and me, is focused on better defining the story and its scope. As we talked about a few times during the campaign, we designed the story (and other aspects of the game) to be highly modular so that we could adapt it to best fit the funding we received. Now that we know our budget for development, we can solidify the scope of the game. We reached the Longer Story Stretch Goal and Colin is looking into how to best incorporate some of the story ideas that we had pruned prior to the Kickstarter. In parallel, we (with Adam leading the charge) are drilling down into the details of how we’ll implement all of the Tidal and other reactivity. We have talked about this reactivity at a high level, but we need to establish more concretely how we will be executing it.​

A strong foundation for the writers means more than just the story though. We are also developing templates and examples for area and companion design, as well as conventions and constraints for dialogue. Once we have those, we can implement some preliminary dialogues to test out conversation creation and get a better sense of how the conversations will play.​

These early prototypes will be made easier from our work on Wasteland 2, along with some preliminary collaboration with Obsidian and their work on Project Eternity. These prototypes will be critical in efficiently focusing the creativity of our writers. As you recall, we have quite the writing team assembled! Some of our writers are very talented creatively, but haven’t had as much video game development experience. Having clear, well thought-out guidelines will help ensure the work of our decentralized writing team is consistent and perfect for Torment.​

This design and planning with a very small team will be continuing over the next few months (along with some technical aspects that we'll talk more about in a later update). This means that another thing we’re doing is conserving funds while we build this foundation - Torment has the benefit of a longer pre-production period (than Wasteland 2) and we want to make the most of it.​

Meanwhile, the From the Depths novella writers are beginning work on their stories. Digital or printed copies of these (including also the novellas by Colin and Monte) are rewards for many of you, but they also serve a design purpose. Writing the novellas at this stage will allow the writers to immerse themselves in the Ninth World, and flesh out the nature of each of the five Tides. These novellas will essentially provide the full definition for each Tide, with the protagonist in each being the embodiment of what that Tide means. So the writers will be delving into the true meanings of the Tides and the novellas will help the entire team better understand what each truly encompasses.​

Besides that, there's a new video featuring Numenera lead editor Shanna Germain, who is also going to be a member of Torment's ever-growing writing team. In the video, she describes and maps out the Numenera world, with a little help from guest star Monte Cook:

​

The update also mentions Adam Heine's Q&A video from a few days ago, and answers an additional question from the forums in text. The answer describes how the game will focus on depth of choices and consequences, and it includes a nice shout-out to Youtube RPG vlogger MrBtongue. Speaking of shout-outs, there's also one for Divinity: Original Sin, as requested on the forums (suck it, Roguey!). Finally, there's a status report on the PayPal funding, which is currently at about $217K, bringing the game's total funding to $4,406,094. It comes with a description of the planned 4.5 million dollar stronghold stretch goal, although it doesn't seem like there's much chance of reaching it.

More options

Shanna Germain claims the titles of writer, editor, leximaven, girl geek, she-devil, vorpal blonde and Schrodinger's brat. Her short stories, essays, poems, novellas and more have appeared in hundreds of books and publications, including Best American Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica, Best Erotic Romance, Best Gay Romance, Triangulation, Salon, Storyglossia and more.

Shanna Germain claims the titles of writer, editor, leximaven, girl geek, she-devil, vorpal blonde and Schrodinger's brat. Her short stories, essays, poems, novellas and more have appeared in hundreds of books and publications, including Best American Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica, Best Erotic Romance, Best Gay Romance, Triangulation, Salon, Storyglossia and more.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. Many writers are not that good at writing uh... sexually active characters.

The last thing Bioware wants is to hire someone capable, whose work would easily overshadow the generic tripe they usually shovel feed their audience. Besides, she looks doable and Gaider wouldn't want any woman around who would draw the guys' eyes away from his fat, balding ass.

Grandiose statements, cryptic warnings, blind fanboyisim and an opinion that leaves no room for argument and will never be dissuaded. Welcome to the forums, you'll go far in this place my boy, you'll go far!

Click to expand...

The people who are a part of the "Fallout Community" have been refined and distilled over time into glittering gems of hatred.

If a woman has any nerd-geek tendencies whatsoever, you can bet money that she wrote porn fanfiction as a teenager... it's just what they do. It's like Warhammer 40k for nerd women. Professional nerd women make a vocation of it

Kallie Peters has finally made her dream come true - she's turned the family farm into Safe Haven, an animal sanctuary. But financial woes are pressing in on her, and she's worried that the only way to keep the farm is to allow her rich ex-boyfriend back into her life. When a sexy stranger shows up in her driveway with a wiggling puppy in his arms, she knows it's her chance for a hot rendezvous before she gives up her freedom. The sex is hot, wild and passionate - the perfect interim before returning to the pressures of real life - but something else is happening between them. Can they find a way to save their dreams, their passions and their hearts, or will they have to say goodbye to all they've come to love?

Click to expand...

I sincerely doubt this smut is better than Bioware, and no that's not a compliment to them.

Josh Sawyer's words of wisdom (that he failed to live up to with Pillars of Eternity 1.0 but succeeded with 3.0):

"Honestly, I think it's really sad that RPGs essentially get a pass on having fundamentally junk core gameplay. And yes, I do consider combat to be a core gameplay element of most RPGs."

Kallie Peters has finally made her dream come true - she's turned the family farm into Safe Haven, an animal sanctuary. But financial woes are pressing in on her, and she's worried that the only way to keep the farm is to allow her rich ex-boyfriend back into her life. When a sexy stranger shows up in her driveway with a wiggling puppy in his arms, she knows it's her chance for a hot rendezvous before she gives up her freedom. The sex is hot, wild and passionate - the perfect interim before returning to the pressures of real life - but something else is happening between them. Can they find a way to save their dreams, their passions and their hearts, or will they have to say goodbye to all they've come to love?